Asparagus canning machine



Aug. 19, 1941. 1'. c. MASSICOTT ASPARAGUS CANNING MACHINE Filed Oct. '7, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1941- T. c MASSICOTT I 2,253,133

ASIARAGUS CANNING MACHINE Filed Oct. 7, @939 Q 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 19, 1941 ASPARAGUS CANNING MACHINE.

Theodore C'. Massicott, Westminster, Md., assignor to The Sinclair-Scott Company, Baltimore, Md.

Application October 7, 1939, Serial No. 298,459

3 Claims.

This invention relates to canning machines and has for its principal object the provision of a device for facilitating the cutting of asparagus to proper length for canning and for transferring the asparagus when so cut into a waiting can without harming the tips of the spears.

Although machines for bunching fresh asparagus have been known for many. years, no simple and compact machine has been. available for trimming and canning blanched asparagus. It isnot difficult to trim asparagus in bunches for the market because the stalks are reasonably firm and it does not make much difference whether the tips are accurately alined or not. In canning, however, the tips should be precisely alined so that all will touch the head of the can and when the stalks are blanched and therefore limp they must be handled with great care. It was with theseideas in mind that the present invention was developed. The machine not only cuts the spears to the proper length and pushes them neatly into a can but it .also provides short lengths for soup or for other purposes.

. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation.

Figure 2 is an end elevation.

Figure 3 is a vertical section through the loading chamber, showing in dotted lines the ejecting plunger nearly at the end of its stroke.

Figure 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1.

The Ibase of my machine is numbered and has a central hole H through which the short soup-length pieces and the trash are discharged into receptacles below the bed. The main holding casing consists of a generally cylindrical brass loading chamber l2 having integral bed plates l4 and I5 on each side of the cylinder for the convenient securing of the brass casting to the iron base as by the bolts H3. The cover or lid ll of the casting is hinged as at l8 and it may conveniently be lifted by the handle l9 riveted or otherwise secured to the cover H. In open position the lid rests against the adjacent knife guard or other suitable stop.

The internal diameter of the loading chamber is the same dimension as the inside diameter of the can or it may be slightly smaller. The opening between the hinge l8 and the end of the lid or cover is sufficiently great to afford convenient access to the interior of the loading chamber so the worker may pile the asparagus with the tip of each spear in exact alinement with the end of the loading chamber, this being facilitated by the provision of a flat brass gate 20 hinged to close one end of the loading chamber while the latter is being filled with stalks.

Spaced from the main casting is a brass bridge having a cylindrical opening coaxial with the interior of the loading chamber but preferably somewhat greater in diameter as the opening in the bridge will support the thicker or larger portions of the stalks of asparagus that are to be discarded as waste when out from the soup pieces and the spears that are to be canned. The bridge extends transversely across the central hole I l in the bed and is secured to the bed as by the bolts 2%. The top opening in the bridge piece is at least as wide as theopening intheloading chamber for the lid and preferably is slightly wider because of the gradual increase in diameter of the stalks themselves.

A pair of curved knives and 3| are secured together by bolts 32 extending through a handle casting. 33. At the other end the two blades are held in alinement by a spool 35 to which the blades are secured as bymeans of the pins 36. This assembly is pivoted by means of a bolt 38 which extends through a boss 39 in the bridge and through a similar boss 40 in the casting. A very convenient way of adjusting the knife assembly in its bearings is by the means of a washer orwashers AI and a cotter pin 42.

The gate 20 may carry a boss having a hearing on a screw iB-in a boss 41 extending from anupright rib 48 on the loading chamber casting. A nut 59 will adjust the larger diameter of the bearing screw firmly against the upright rib it so that the gate may readily be thrown completely out of the way by means of a finger hole 53 in an extended car 54 projecting appreciably beyond the front sloping rib 56 of the loading casting.

To the left of Figure 1 will be seen one of the vided with a circular groove 66 to receive the rim of the can top is preferably integral with the base and this part may extend forwardly as a wide rib to a point proximate the gate to afford a more firm support for the body of the can, holding it precisely alined so as to be coaxial with the axis of the loading chamber. Also coaxial with the can and loading chamber is a plunger 10 sliding freely in bearings H in a support 12 bolted as at 13 to the base. The plunger carries a hand piece 15 and a disk 16 very slightly small- "er than the diameter of the chamber.

For convenience in clearing the knives of the soup portion pieces of asparagus I may add a stripper 8! (see Figure 4) consisting of a vertical portion 82 having a forwardly directed tip 83 and preferably reinforced by a rear rib. The rearwardly directed foot 86 is secured to the base in any desired manner, as by the bolts 81.

In order to provide for safety it is well to shield the knives 30 when they are in rearward position, To accomplish this result I find it convenient to provide a pair of guards 90 having a bracket 9| secured to the sloping rear of the base H] by means of screws 92. A short rod 93 joins the guards making a strengthening tie and also forms a rear stop for the knife unit. Each guard continues forwardly and downwardly to an extension 95 having an arcuate edge 96 which projects somewhat further forward than the knives and consequently protects the operator from injury when filling the holder or loading chamber Hi. The edge of the left guard may be slightly cut away, as seen in Figure 2, to permit greater movement of the lid 20 of the loading chamber.

The operation is as follows: The worker carefully places each stalk of asparagus in the loading chamber and extending within the bridge recess with the lid and knives up and the gate down. Each tipis placed in firm contact with the brass gate and the butt ends extend at varying distances beyond the opening in the bridge 25. When the proper number of stalks are placed in the loading chamber the lid is closed by means of its handle I9 and held down with one hand while with the other the knife unit is pulled down until the stop 78' carried by the handle of the casting 33 touches the base as at 19. In this movement the knives 30 and 3,! cooperate with the plane edges of the loading chamber casting and the bridge making two cuts. The butt ends fall to the right of the bridge as in Figure 1 and the soup sections which lie between the knives 30 and 3i fall into a separate receptacle not shown, being stripped by the upstanding finger 82. On raising the knife unit and the gate, the ejecting plunger disk 16 is pushed against the cut ends of the'asparagus stalks in the loading chamber andshoves them smoothly and evenly into the can, the distance between the hand end piece 15 and the support 12 being so adjusted that the plunger it stops just as the heads of the spears are in firm contact with" the end of the can, which in accordance with usual practice is the top of the can, not the bottom, the bottom being added later.

What I claim is:

1. In an asparagus canning machine, a base having a central discharge opening therein, a bridge rising from the base and crossing said opening and having an open top cylindrical hole therethru to receive butt ends of asparagus stalks to support same during cutting, a holder having a pivoted lid and provided with a cylindrical opening therethru alined with the bridge opening and supporting the asparagus spears during the cutting off of the butt ends, means on one end of the base for holding a can in alinement with the cylindrical opening thru the holder, a gate pivoted to move between the can and the holder, a pair of knives pivoted to engage one end of the holder and one wall of the bridge, a disk ejector slidably mounted on an axis co-axial with the axes of the can holder and bridge opening, and means for limiting the movement of the disk to a point just beyond the margin of the holder, so as not to crush the tips of the asparagus when moving the asparagus into the can.

2. In an asparagus cutting machine for severing the stalks into spears, soup pieces, and butts, a base having a discharge opening therethru to accommodate the severed butt ends, a holder located closely adjacent said opening and having a cylindrical opening therethru to receive the asparagus spears, a bridge crossing said discharge opening at a distance from the holder equal to the length of the soup pieces and having an arcuate opening coaxial with that in said holder, a pair of pivoted knives adapted to move in unison, one in contact with the-holder and the other in contact with the bridge, whereby the soup pieces and the butts will fall through said discharge opening on opposite sides of the bridge.

3. In a device for cutting asparagus stalks into spears, soup pieces, and butts, a pair of parallel knives pivoted to oscillate about a single horizontal axis, two supporting means for holding the asparagus stalks, one being located on one side of the two knives and the other located on the opposite side of the two knives and a stripper rising vertically between the knives adjacent their pivot and consequently between said supporting means to form a positioning guide to aid in placing the stalks in the supporting means and to prevent the out soup pieces from following the knives on their return stroke.

THEODORE C. IVIASSICOTT. 

